


To Give A Hoot

by DigiModified



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Animals, Drabble, Dwarf, Elf, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Owls, yes owls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3396254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigiModified/pseuds/DigiModified
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owl AU. Gimli, a small yet grumpy Pygmy Owl,somehow  gets stuck with a rather annoying and sheltered Barn Owl who won't leave him in peace. Eventually he begins to enjoy the company of the larger owl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Barn Owl

**Author's Note:**

> Ha ha ha. I can't believe I'm actually writing this. My first LOTR fanfic and it is AU AND has to do with owls. It is probably just going to have two maybe three chapters. I'm terrible with keeping up with multichaptered fics. I am.not sure. This probably won't get much attention. Anyway, I decided to rewatch Guardians of Gahoole and felt like making an owl AU. Thought A Pygmy owl fit Gimli pretty well and a Common Barn Owl fit Legolas.

It was a rather scary situation when an owl twice the size of yourself had been following you for some time. From the looks of it, a barn owl had been following him from the human town to the small wooded areas around it. Why was the damned city owl even following him? Sure, Gimli was a quick meal to an owl like that, but they normally kept to mice and whatever they could find in human places. At any chance, the large owl could have already attacked...yet it hadn't! Landing on a tree branch, the Pygmy owl ruffled his rusty red feathers and braced himself for what might have been a nasty fight. A screech erupted from the pint sized birds throat, giving a warning to the predatory avian. "You're looking for a fight? I'll give you a fight, you overgrown sparrow!" After the words were screeched from his beak, a blur of peachy white feathers flashed in his eyes and then came a hard knock and the sensation of falling overcame the small owl. 

Gimli grimaced as the wind was knocked out of his lungs and looked up to the barn owl who watched him curiously. Was this some new tactic that large owls were using now to knock down small prey? This was pretty damn cruel, even for those over sized pigeons! 

"Are you alright down there? I didn't mean to knock you off the branch. I hadn't noticed you!" The unknown owl peaked down with his large and unusually curious eyes.

Gimli raised a feathery brow at the barn owls statement. Hadn't noticed him? what was so hard to notice about a 6 inch owl who was obviously giving a warning screech. Was that owl really that dense? He would have thought that he would have been much sharper like the rest of the barn owls he had the displeasure of meeting. 

The Pygmy owl hated barn owls with a passion. They always thought they were so high and mighty and claimed anything they could. He had the misfortune of running into the high and mighty Thranduil of the Mirkwood Town Church. That damned barn owl held himself as if he were royalty and never had to raise a talon to do anything, he always had other owls doing other things for him. The only thing he had ever seen him do by himself was fight. Thranduil was quite the warrior and could easily take out an owl like Gimli. He had captured his father, Gloin, and held him in the bell tower along with a few other small owls. Thranduil had even challenged a small screech owl by the name of Thorin and almost killed the owl in the process. Fortunately, a young elf owl by the name of Bilbo had managed to free Gloin and the other owls. He stopped the fight and saved Thorin who was a well respected owl amongst the other woodland owls. He was grateful to that small owl and often went hunting with his nephew, Frodo. The owlet was not a very strong hunter, but Gimli would change that around. 

The large owl glided down from the high branch with ease, like the rest of his damned species. There should have been nothing special about this owl, but those peach feathers were stunning and could stop any creature and leave them staring in awe. He normally saw barn owls as rats with feathers...but something felt strange about calling him a rat with feathers. 

"I really am sorry for knocking you down. I guess I should help you there." The owl raised a taloned foot and rolled Gimli back up as if he were just a chick that needed to be propped back into the nest. How embarrassing to have to be treated like a newly hatched chick by a damned barn owl.

Gimli stretched out his wings and when he was back on his feet, he gave a shriek. "I don't need help from an overgrown pigeon like you, barn owl! Why don't you go back to your little human town and enjoy relying on your humans!" There was a sore pain in the Pygmy owls wing as he tried to lift himself off the ground, an almost unbearable. Great, he couldn't get off the ground and he was stuck with a disgusting creature he didn't like. 

"My name is not,'barn owl,' nor is it 'overgrown pigeon.' My name is Legolas. What should I call you? Should I call you, 'bug eyed sparrow? Or should I call you a 'feathered mouse.'" It seemed as if this Legolas fellow was quite the wise cracker. The barn owl smirked to the owl that was half his size before flying back up to the branch he had knocked that unrefined owl from.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter! I really wasn't expecting for anyone to actually like this fic. I apologize for how crappily written it is. Anyway, I've decided to maybe write some more into this fanfic. I not sure what direction I'm taking this into, but I'm having fun. 
> 
> Another thing to explain is I looked up the size of a pygmy owl and barn owl. Apparently a pygmy owl is only about 7-8 inches tall and barn owls are 16 inches tall.

Legolas had left the nest on his own plenty of times. He had even left the comfort of the bell tower, but never on his own. Often times when he would go and explore the human structures, he had the company of Tauriel or his father. Never had he ever managed to get out on his own, he knew how dangerous it was and how he was considered,'The Prince of Mirkwood. ' Any owl would kill to snag their talons on the young barn owl. If you caught the prince, surely you had already caught the king. Many owls were afraid to challenge Thranduil but would love to control his territory. Capturing Legolas would be a stepping stone in getting his father's territory.  
That was why this was such a terrifying situation for Legolas. He and Tauriel had been flying together before the young owls had been separated with a rather harsh gust of wind. The barn owl could feel his heart pounding as he looked back and couldn't recognize anything. Great...he was lost in the human town and couldn't find his way back home. Where was he? Would he even make his way back home? Another barn owl was bound to find him and attack him, or worse...something larger...maybe he would be caught by a human! 

Legolas shuddered at the thought before catching sight of something smaller than himself. By the looks of it, it seemed to be a small rusty colored pigeon, which was an easy meal for him. All thoughts of maybe being attacked and being far away from home had vanished as primal instincts took over. He gave silent chase till noticing that what had been following wasn't actually a pigeon...but another owl. What? That pipsqueak was another owl? That thing couldn't do anything to him, no matter how hard it fought. All that the young barn owl had to do was just catch it in his talons. It really couldn't harm him. Sure, Legolas had never really interacted with any other owls other than the other barn owls that lived in the church bell tower, but he had actually never seen any other owls other than those barn owls and the occaisional screech owl and long eared owl. Screech owls could be rather small...but not as small as whatever this owl was. This owl was barely even half of Legolas' size!

Legolas had been so wrapped up in his concentration, that he hadn't noticed that he had followed the small into a small wooded area outside of the human town. What was this place? He had never seen anything like this before! His father had spoken to him before about how outside the town there were lots of trees and savage animals, more savage than humans, had roamed. It was so tranquil and aesthetic. The bell tower wasn't even this beautiful.  
By now he wasn't even paying attention to where he was flying or what was going on, he was so fascinated by the woods. It was then that he heard a shrill shriek and was torn out of his stupor, forced to listen to the rudeness of that tiny owl. Before Legolas could even stop himself, he reached out for the branch the owl had braved himself on and knock him to the ground. 

Ruffling his peachy gold feathers, the barn owl peered down with curiousity. That was quite the fall he had taken, was he dead? Could an owl of that size survive that long of a fall? By the looks of it, he looked to only be maybe six or seven inches tall. 

"Are you alright down there? I hadn't noticed you!" 

No answer had come from that small owl. Maybe he really had died from the impact. There really wasn't any way of knowing without getting a better look at the owl. 

Legolas swooped down and gently landed on the mossy floor. He allowed his talons to dig into the soil and his eyes widened at the fairly new sensation. He had never felt a floor like that! The wooden and brick floor never felt this soft before, there was almost nothing to compare this to! The only place he really felt earth like this was in the human parks when his father would take hjm hunting, even then, all he could really feel was the grass. Never the soil. 

The young barn owl looked from his talons then to the small owl who gave him a rather nasty look. At least one thing was answered, the creature wasn't dead and he was rather moody. 

What a funny looking owl. He really wasn't that big, he was almost the size of an owlet. Maybe he was an owlet...no, he couldn't be. He had none of that fluffy down that often stayed till maturity, he also wouldn't be flying at such a young age. No, his feathers were already grown in. The feathers rusty red color and his face and back were dappled in white spots. It was a foreign look, it wasn't ugly...just unusual. He certainly looked nothing like Legolas with his white and cream colored feathers. There were those little spots all over the small owls face while Legolas had that golden frame around his white face. 

It didn't take too long for the barn owl to notice he had been staring at the tiny owl before clearing his throat and jumping from one leg to another. 

"Here, let me help you." 

He rolled the owl back into an upright position and earned a rather nasty look for it. What was so bad about it? He had already said that he was sorry for knocking him down, what more did he want! This owl truly was moody. It didn't take long for him to let out a screech and glare even harder. 

"I don't want help from an overgrown pigeon! Why don't you just go back to your human home! Your humans will take care of you!"

What the hell was that supposed to mean. Legolas shot a questioning look as the owl jumped up on his feet and got into a defensive pose. Every now and then, he would stretch his wings as if something was wrong with them but would retake his current position. True, most barn owls preferred to live in the human towns, but they rarely relied on humans. The only thing they relied on them for was providing buildings for shelter and garbage to attract mice for food. He ignored the comment and went about watching the owl. 

"I am not an overgrown pigeon. My name is Legolas, thank you very much. What about you? Should I call you a feathered mouse?"

At the name, the rusty red owl grimaced and hissed. "You barn owls think that you are so high and mighty, don't you. I'm not a little meal for you. I'm a stronger owl than you! My name is Gimli." 

Gimli...Gimli! How cute of a name for an owl like that! Half of Legolas's size, grumpy as could be, and he was strong...maybe. legolas couldn't help but laugh a little and smirk. "Oh...Gimli, then. Well, you're probably a little to grisly to eat anyway."

Legolas opened his wings and flew up to the nearest tree branch before looking back down to see if Gimli would follow. When nothing came, he peered back down. 

"Are you sure you're alright, Gimli? Why aren't you flying up here? Or are you too heavy to fly. Despite your size, you look heavy." Legolas commented with a teasing tone. Gimli was a little stocky and wasn't as lean as a barn owl. Maybe he could fly up that high. 

Gimli rolled his eyes and ruffled his feathers before giving mock laughter. "You're funny, barn owl. You're really funny. I can fly better than you any day." 

Gimli spread his wings and hopped, trying to get himself off of the ground. "Hmmph!" Another hop, and he still couldn't get off of the ground. "Hmph!" Gimli hopped again, flapping his wings and trying to ignore the pain that shot down. Dammit! He couldn't make it up. The Pygmy owl craned his neck up and noticed that the barn owl was actually showing concern now. 

"Are you sure you don't need help? I'm coming down." 

The barn owl gently flew down and grabbed the owl in his talons and brought him up to the lowest branch. 

"You're quite the funny fellow, Gimli. What kind of owl are you anyway? I've never seen an owl like you in the bell tower back in the town. I've seen screech owls, but I've never seen anything as small as you before. " Legolas rambled a bit, excited about making a new friend. To Gimli, he wasn't already a friend, but to Legolas he was. 

The nonstop talking had gone on for a few minutes now and the pygmy owl wasn't really sure how much more he could put up with. All he wanted to do was just get back to his burrow in the side of the tree and go to bed before the sun came up. He let out a hiss and pecked at the large owl, finally shutting him up from his ramblings. 

"Hey, what was that for!"

"Shut up already! Can't you keep quiet for anything. I don't like barn owls very much. All I want to do is just go home and rest..." Gimli grumbled to himself and climbed up the nearest branches to get into the small burrow he had made in the tree. 

Legolas was hit with harsh reality once again and all of his anxiety had returned. What about him? What was he going to do? He was lost in the woods now...and only knew one owl. He had nowhere to stay and it was a little dangerous to go out at time like this!

"W-wait! Where are you going! Can I stay with you? I have nowhere to stay, I'm lost!" The barn owl quickly followed before noticing the hole in the tree. Did owls really burrow in trees? It was like the church bell tower but much smaller. Gimli nestled himself inside before looking out.  
"No, why should I let you in. You just want my burrow all to yourself!"


End file.
